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George's set at Net Aid in 1999 saw him return to Wembley Stadium |
I was there when George bounded on stage towards the end of a long day at Live 8 and scarpered off again after a blink-and-you'd-miss-it performance that seemed to add weight to the rumours that it was stage fright that had been keeping him away from the live arena.
It certainly came as a surprise when he announced earlier this year that he would hit the road for the Live 25 tour to mark a quarter of a century in the business.
Whether it has been stage fright or inertia that has kept him away from the stage for so long, George could have been forgiven for just dipping his toe in the water. But after the dates sold out within hours, more were announced - leaving him with a daunting schedule of 44 concerts in 12 weeks.
It'll be amazing to see him sing more than a couple of songs. That's a new experience for many of us
Bianca Cavalini Planet George website |
And I'm not the only British fan who is making the trip to the opening night show at Barcelona's Palau Saint Jordi venue.
Neelam Vithlani, a 29-year-old IT consultant from Windsor, has been a devoted fan since she went to see the Faith tour at the age of 11.
She said: "I just knew I had to be in Barcelona for the opening night. I'll be at the London shows as well but - after all these years - I didn't want to wait any longer to see him again.
"I really had given up hope that he would tour again, given what he has said about it in the past.
"It's clear that he's not doing this tour for the money and I don't think he expects to get any pleasure from it. I truly believe he's doing it to please his fans and say 'thank you'. I think that, in recent years, he has become much more aware of the number of supportive people he has out there."
'Worth the trip'
The length of George's absence from the stage is underlined by the fact that the administrator of the Planet George fansite, London-based Bianca Cavalini, has never seen one of his concerts.
The way we were: Wham! pictured during one of their tours |
But Bianca, 37, is making up for it by going to 13 shows on this tour.
She said: "Up to now, I've only seen his performances at charity shows. I even travelled to Italy for the Pavarotti and Friends concert when George appeared. He was only on stage for one-and-a-half songs but it was worth the trip.
"It'll be amazing to see him sing more than a couple of songs. That's a new experience for many of us."
She and Neelam both said they have "absolutely no doubts" that George will live up to their expectations.
Neelam said: "I think he's going to be surprised at the reaction he'll get when he walks out on stage. Every fan is going to go mad. I just hope that it leads to him doing a little more live stuff in the future."